HomePod is the company's first smart speaker Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, being launched on Friday by the American company, and today we also see the first tests done by some experts. We are talking about Consumer Reports, a well-known American publication that tests all kinds of electronic products, stating that HomePod does not have as good audio quality as Google Home or Sonos One.
After a "full evaluation" of HomePod, those from Consumer Reports claim that the smart speaker offers very good audio quality, but Google Home Max and Sonos one offer superior audio quality. HomePod is placed in front of many other smart speakers, but the two above are not among them, the companies Google and Sonos managing to create very good products.
HomePod has a much too intense bass, and mid-range sounds are not reproduced as well as they should be, according to the test done by Consumer Reports. The HomePod would not have good enough speakers to properly reproduce the tone of the sounds produced by the voices of the artists, or by the guitars that are heard in the songs being played.
"The HomePod will serve many music fans well, but CR testers did hear some flaws. The HomePod's bass was a bit boomy and overemphasized. And the midrange tones were somewhat hazy, meaning that some of the nuance in vocals, guitars, and horns was lost: These elements of the music could not be heard as distinctly as in more highly rated speakers. Treble sounds, like cymbals, were underemphasized. But the HomePod played reasonably loudly in a mid-sized room. The bottom line? Overall the sound of the HomePod was a bit muddy compared with what the Sonos One and Google Home Max delivered."
HomePod is also criticized for its lack of support for stereo sound, although Apple will offer it with iOS 11.3 next month, Apple's closed ecosystem is not presented as a plus either. All these criticisms are contrary to the first reviews made by American journalists for the HomePod smart speaker, some of which were also made by audio experts.
